Skundavisk

Shoundavish
Skundavisk
Flag of Shoundafland
Pronunciation	[ʃʊndaβɪʃ]
Created by	Mohamed Kaseb
Date	2008
Setting	Alt-history Europe, Northern Germany
Native to	Shoundafland
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Shoundavish
Early form	Proto-West-Germanic
Dialects	Western Shoundavish Eastern Shoundavish

Skundavisk (sh.: /ʃʊndaβɪʃ/), also known by its anglicized name Shoundavish, is a Germanic constructed language created by Mohamed Kaseb. Designed as a West Germanic language, it has been developed from the Old Saxon dialects spoken in what is now Schleswig and Holstein in the early Middle Ages, and is thus closely related to English, Dutch, Low Saxon, the Frisian languages and (High) German. Shoundavish also underwent a slight North Germanic influence due to contacts with the Nordic countries, which is reflected by the presence of Scandinavian loanwords in its vocabulary, especially from Old Norse and Early Modern Danish. Consequently, despite being a West Germanic language, Shoundavish shares some similarities with Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, especially in phonology and vocabulary.

Shoundavish didn't take part in the High German consonant shift, and is overall one of the most conservative Germanic languages regarding the consonants. Because of its preservation of the sounds /θ/, /ð/ and /w/, along with a large common vocabulary, Shoundavish is one of the closest languages to English. However, both languages underwent very different vowel shifts over time, which makes them sound quite different. Besides, while English borrowed many words from the Romance languages (especially French), the Shoundavish vocabulary remained mostly Germanic, and very few words were borrowed from non-Germanic sources. Therefore, words like "biology" or "litterature" are built using Germanic roots instead of Latin or Greek ones. While being very conservative in its phonology and lexicon, Shoundavish didn't preserve the complex grammar of Proto-Germanic, and the medieval case system has been reduced to scattered remnants in the modern language.

Development

The earliest developments of Shoundavish started in 2008, but at this stage, the language was only a rough mix of Dutch and Scandinavian. In 2016, Shoundavish was refounded completely, and a full set of sound shifts were defined to yield consistent word derivation from Proto-Germanic to Modern Shoundavish. The language started being promoted on Facebook inside constructed language communities through language lessons, translated texts and memes in late 2017, and a page dedicated to Shoundavish was created in May 2019 . As of 2023, the page has more than 800 followers.

Classification and dialects

Shoundavish belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. It bears many similarities with the Anglo-Frisian, Low Saxon and Low Franconian languages, which include English, Frisian, Low German and Dutch among others.

There are two main dialects of Shoundavish: Western Shoundavish and Eastern Shoundavish. These main dialectal groups are further divided into subdialects that differ in grammar, phonology, vocabulary and syntax, but are still mutually intelligible to a great extent. The written standard is based on the dialect of Kijl, a Western Shoundavish variety, and, inside the Shoundavish conworld, is supposed to be understood everywhere in the country. However, outside the region of Kijl, standard Shoundavish is rarely spoken, and the dialects are still widely used, unlike what happened in most West European countries. The dialect of Sweren, an Eastern Shoundavish variety, is also used as an informal written standard in the Eastern part of Shoundafland.

Fictional history

The name Shoundavish comes from an old Germanic compound name: *skunduz habai, litterally "fast way to the sea" (the word *habai is the genitive of *haba and is related to English "haven"), referring to the original homeland of the Shoundaves between the North and the Baltic Seas. The earliest stage of the language is Old Shoundavish, which emerged in the 6th century from North Sea Germanic dialects, near the original homeland of the Angles, the Saxons and the Frisians. At that time the language was, like the other early Germanic languages, highly inflected. The original four cases of Proto-Germanic were all preserved, but were quite simplified. Old Shoundavish was divided into two main dialects, Old West Shoundavish and Old East Shoundavish, which both had their own written conventions.

By the 12th century the language had evolved significantly and was entering the Middle Shoundavish period, during which many vowels in unstressed syllables were reduced (ex. Old Shoundavish daga, sunno, friunds, drivan > Middle Shoundavish dag, sunne, friend, driven). The Middle Shoundavish vocabulary is quite close to that of Modern Shoundavish, but the pronunciation was different and the adjectives and articles were still inflected, like in Modern German. Middle Shoundavish wasn't a unified language, but rather a dialectal continuum, with the varieties of the five main Hanseatic cities (Flensburg, Kijl, Hamburg, Lyvig and Sweren) serving as loose written standards. The varieties of Kijl and Sweren also served as lingua francas inside the Hanseatic league, and had a huge impact on the Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish and Norwegian), whose modern vocabulary contains around 30% of Shoundavish loanwords, either Western Shoundavish (Kijlisk) or Eastern Shoundavish (Swerenisk). By the 15th century, the dialects of Shoundavish had diverged quite a lot from each other, and each dialect developed its own distinct pholonogial and grammatical characteristics.

The 16th century saw a drastic simplification of the grammar, all the cases disappeared (except the very formal genitive case which survived in the written language) and the use of the subjunctive mood declined. Several vowels shifted during this period, especially the long vowels which split into diphthongs or were significantly modified (ex. Middle Shoundavish driven /dri:βən/, hus /hu:s/, stan /sta:n/ > Modern Shoundavish drijven /drɪjβən/, hous /hows/, stån /sto:n/). Since Sleswijk was under Danish rule during this time, Shoundavish borrowed a few words from Danish, and adopted a Scandinavian-looking orthography using the letters å, æ, ø and y. Since then, the language didn't undergo any significant change, therefore the 17th century texts almost don't differ with actual texts in style, grammar and vocabulary.

While the other Germanic languages were adopting many new scientific and technical words, which were coined from Latin and Greek roots, Shoundavish coined its own scientific vocabulary using Germanic roots. For example, words like biology, physics or gene are translated as lijfkunde, byrdkunde and erfþe (literally "life-knowledge", "nature-knowledge" and "heritage" with a "-þe" suffix related to English "-th"). It is therefore possible to write a Shoundavish text dealing with science or technology without any loanword from Latin or Greek, as it is the case in Icelandic.

Phonology

Consonants

Overall, Shoundavish has been designed as a substantially conservative language regarding the consonants. Beside not being affected by the High German consonant shift, the conlang didn't undergo the/w/ > /v/ and /θ/ > /d/ shifts, unlike most Continental West Germanic languages like Dutch and German, which makes it closer to English in this aspect. Shoundavish also has preserved the bilabial consonants /ɸ/ and /β/, though, in the fictional world where the language exists, it is a distinct Kijlisk feature. Most other varieties have shifted /ɸ/ to /f/, and /β/ to either /v/ or /b/. Another distinct feature is the palatalisation of /k/ and /g/ to /c/ and /ɟ/, respectively, before front vowels.

	bilabial	dental	alveolar	post-alveolar	palatal	velar	uvular	glottal
nasal	m		n			ŋ
plosive	p b		t d		c ɟ	k g		ʔ
fricative	ɸ β	θ ð	s	ʃ		x	χ
approximant				l ɫ	j	w ʍ
trill				r

Vowels

The Shoundavish vowels have undergone slightly more shifts than the consonants. Similarly to what happened in English, Dutch and German but in to a smaller extent, the long vowels /i:/, /u:/ and /y:/ have shifted to diphtongs /ɪj/ (spelled ij), /oʊ/ (spelled ou) and /øj/ (spelled øj), respectively. The other major vowel shift is the backing of /a:/ to /o:/ (spelled å)

	front	central	back
near-close	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
close-mid	e ø
mid		ɘ
open-mid	ɛ œ		ɔ
near-open	æ	ɐ
open	a		ɑ

Grammar

Articles

The old Germanic case system has been drastically reduced, and only the genitive case has survived, while all other forms have merged into a common case. While Shoundavish still distinguishes the three genders of Proto-Germanic, the reduction of unstressed syllables has made them barely distinct. Consequently, there is no distinction anymore between the masculine and feminine genders in the case of definite nouns, and between the masculine and neuter genders in the case of indefinite nouns. The surviving genitive case still distinguishes masculine/neuter and feminine forms.

Article inflection
definite
number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
common		ðe	ðe	ðet	ðe
genitive		ðes	ðer	ðes	ðer
indefinite
number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
common		een	eene	een	-
genitive		eenes	eener	eenes	-

Nouns

While nouns can be either masculine, feminine or neuter, the gender distinction is chiefly reflected in the determiners and vestigial adjective endings, not on the nouns themselves. An exception is the genitive case marker -s, which is only appended to masculine and neuter nouns:

● ðe hund = the dog > ðes hunds = of the dog

● ðe mous = the mouse > ðer mous = of the mouse

● ðe skåp = the sheep > ðes skåps = of the sheep

An important remnant of the old Germanic noun class system is the way plurals are formed. Consequently, Shoundavish has five main plural markers, depending on which Germanic class the noun comes from. Some of these classes contain nouns of only one gender, while others contain nouns of all three genders.

Noun classes
Plural pattern	Gender	Example
-(e)s	masculine	hund > hunds
-r	feminine	sake - saker
i-umlaut + -e	all genders	foot - føte
-n	all genders	sterne - sternen
-ere	neuter	kind - kindere

Verbs

As in most Germanic languages, Shoundavish only has two simple tenses, the present and the preterite. All the other tenses (present perfect, future, continuous present, etc) are formed with an auxillary verb combined with the infinitive, the present or the past participle. The way the past is formed from the present root depends on the conjugation pattern in which the verb lies. There are five main conjugation patterns in Shoundavish : strong, weak, mixed, modal and irregular. Shoundavish also distinguishes three moods : indicative, subjunctive and imperative.

Strong verbs

Strong verbs are characterized by the shift of the main vowel to distinguish the present and the past roots, as in English sing-sang-sung. The seven strong verb classes of Proto-Germanic have been preserved and still follow predictable patterns.

▷ Class 1 strong verbs

skijnen
infinitive		skijnen
present participle		skijnend
past participle		geskinen
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik skijne	wi skijnen	ik skijne	wi skijnen
	ðou skinst	ji skijnt	ðou skinst	ji skijnt
	hi, si, hit skint	si, Si skijnen	hi, si, hit skijne	si, Si skijnen
preterite	ik skeen	wi skeenen	ik skeene	wi skeenen
	ðou skeenst	ji skeent	ðou skeenest	ji skeenet
	hi, si, hit skeen	si, Si skeenen	hi, si, hit skeene	si, Si skeenen
imperative	skijn	skijnt (ji)

▷ Class 2 strong verbs

fleugen
infinitive		fleugen
present participle		fleugend
past participle		geflogen
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik fleuge	wi fleugen	ik fleuge	wi fleugen
	ðou fliegst	ji fleugt	ðou fliegst	ji fleugt
	hi, si, hit fliegt	si, Si fleugen	hi, si, hit fleuge	si, Si fleugen
preterite	ik floog	wi floogen	ik fløge	wi fløgen
	ðou floogst	ji floogt	ðou fløgest	ji fløget
	hi, si, hit floog	si, Si floogen	hi, si, hit fløge	si, Si fløgen
imperative	fleug	fleugt (ji)

▷ Class 3 strong verbs

singen
infinitive		singen
present participle		singend
past participle		gesungen
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik singe	wi singen	ik singe	wi singen
	ðou singst	ji singt	ðou singst	ji singt
	hi, si, hit singt	si, Si singen	hi, si, hit singe	si, Si singen
preterite	ik sang	wi sangen	ik sænge	wi sængen
	ðou sangst	ji sangt	ðou sængest	ji sænget
	hi, si, hit sang	si, Si sangen	hi, si, hit sænge	si, Si sængen
imperative	sing	singt (ji)

▷ Class 4 strong verbs

spreken
infinitive		spreken
present participle		sprekend
past participle		gesproken
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik spreke	wi spreken	ik spreke	wi spreken
	ðou sprikst	ji sprekt	ðou sprikst	ji sprekt
	hi, si, hit sprikt	si, Si spreken	hi, si, hit spreke	si, Si spreken
preterite	ik sprak	wi spraken	ik spræke	wi spræken
	ðou sprakst	ji sprakt	ðou sprækest	ji spræket
	hi, si, hit sprak	si, Si spraken	hi, si, hit spræke	si, Si spræken
imperative	sprek	sprekt (ji)

▷ Class 5 strong verbs

lesen
infinitive		lesen
present participle		lesend
past participle		gelesen
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik lese	wi lesen	ik lese	wi lesen
	ðou lisst	ji lest	ðou lisst	ji lest
	hi, si, hit list	si, Si lesen	hi, si, hit lese	si, Si lesen
preterite	ik las	wi lasen	ik læse	wi læsen
	ðou lasst	ji last	ðou læsest	ji læset
	hi, si, hit las	si, Si lasen	hi, si, hit læse	si, Si læsen
imperative	les	lest (ji)

▷ Class 6 strong verbs

wasken
infinitive		wasken
present participle		waskend
past participle		gewasken
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik waske	wi wasken	ik waske	wi wasken
	ðou wæskest	ji waskt	ðou wæskest	ji waskt
	hi, si, hit wæskt	si, Si wasken	hi, si, hit waske	si, Si wasken
preterite	ik woosk	wi woosken	ik wøske	wi wøsken
	ðou wooskest	ji wooskt	ðou wøskest	ji wøsket
	hi, si, hit woosk	si, Si woosken	hi, si, hit wøske	si, Si wøsken
imperative	wask	waskt (ji)

▷ Class 7 strong verbs

slåpen
infinitive		slåpen
present participle		slåpend
past participle		geslåpen
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik slåpe	wi slåpen	ik slåpe	wi slåpen
	ðou slæpst	ji slåpt	ðou slæpst	ji slåpt
	hi, si, hit slæpt	si, Si slåpen	hi, si, hit slåpe	si, Si slåpen
preterite	ik slep	wi slepen	ik slepe	wi slepen
	ðou slepst	ji slept	ðou slepest	ji slepet
	hi, si, hit slep	si, Si slepen	hi, si, hit slepe	si, Si slepen
imperative	slåp	slåpt (ji)

Weak verbs

Weak verbs are characterized by the addition of a dental suffix to indicate the past tense, as in English want-wanted.

maken
infinitive		maken
present participle		makend
past participle		gemakt
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik make	wi maken	ik make	wi maken
	ðou makst	ji makt	ðou makst	ji makt
	hi, si, hit makt	si, Si maken	hi, si, hit make	si, Si maken
preterite	ik makte	wi makten	ik makte	wi makten
	ðou maktest	ji maktet	ðou maktest	ji maktet
	hi, si, hit makte	si, Si makten	hi, si, hit makten	si, Si makten
imperative	mak	makt (ji)

Mixed verbs

Mixed verbs are characterized by the combination of a vowel shift and the addition of a dental suffix to indicate the past tense, as in English feel-felt. In some cases, consonant shifts may also happen, as in English think-thought.

▷ Mixed verbs without consonant shift

følen
infinitive		følen
present participle		følend
past participle		gefolt
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik føle	wi følen	ik føle	wi følen
	ðou følst	ji følt	ðou følst	ji følt
	hi, si, hit følt	si, Si følen	hi, si, hit føle	si, Si følen
preterite	ik folte	wi folten	ik følte	wi følten
	ðou foltest	ji foltet	ðou føltest	ji føltet
	hi, si, hit folte	si, Si folten	hi, si, hit følte	si, Si følten
imperative	føl	følt (ji)

▷ Mixed verbs with consonant shift

þenken
infinitive		þenken
present participle		þenkend
past participle		geþaght
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik þenke	wi þenken	ik þenke	wi þenken
	ðou þenkst	ji þenkt	ðou þenkst	ji þenkt
	hi, si, hit þenkt	si, Si þenken	hi, si, hit þenke	si, Si þenken
preterite	ik þaghte	wi þaghten	ik þæghte	wi þæghten
	ðou þaghtest	ji þaghtet	ðou þæghtest	ji þæghtet
	hi, si, hit þaghte	si, Si þaghten	hi, si, hit þæghte	si, Si þæghten
imperative	þenk	þenkt (ji)

Modal verbs

Modal verbs are descended from the older preterite-present verbs of Proto-Germanic, like English can or may. They are characterized by a present conjugation pattern similar to the past conjugation of strong verbs. As in most Germanic languages, they express modality (will, probability, obligation etc) and can be used as auxillary, notably to form the future tense (like English will and shall).

kunnen
infinitive		kunnen
present participle		kunnend
past participle		gekond
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik kann	wi kunnen	ik kunne	wi kunnen
	ðou kant	ji kunnt	ðou kunnst	ji kunnt
	hi, si, hit kann	si, Si kunnen	hi, si, hit kunne	si, Si kunnen
preterite	ik konde	wi konden	ik kynde	wi kynden
	ðou kondest	ji kondet	ðou kyndest	ji kyndet
	hi, si, hit konde	si, Si konden	hi, si, hit kynde	si, Si kynden
imperative	kunn	kunnt (ji)

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs are verbs that follow their own conjugation pattern. As in most other Germanic languages, this class contains the most frequent verbs, like have, be, go or do, and often involve suppletion.

wesen
infinitive		wesen
present participle		wesend
past participle		gewesen
auxiliary		wesen
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik im	wi sind	ik sij	wi sijn
	ðou er	ji sijd	ðou sijst	ji sijd
	hi, si, hit is	si, Si sind	hi, si, hit sij	si, Si sijn
preterite	ik was	wi weren	ik wære	wi wæren
	ðou wast	ji wert	ðou wærest	ji wæret
	hi, si, hit was	si, Si weren	hi, si, hit wære	si, Si wæren
imperative	sij	sijd (ji)

haven
infinitive		haven
present participle		havend
past participle		gehad
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik have	wi haven	ik have	wi haven
	ðou hast	ji haft	ðou hafst	ji haft
	hi, si, hit hat	si, Si haven	hi, si, hit have	si, Si haven
preterite	ik hadde	wi hadden	ik hædde	wi hædden
	ðou haddest	ji haddet	ðou hæddest	ji hæddet
	hi, si, hit hadde	si, Si hadden	hi, si, hit hædden	si, Si hædden
imperative	haf	haft (ji)

gån
infinitive		gån
present participle		gåend/gånd
past participle		gegån
auxiliary		wesen
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik gå	wi gån	ik gå	wi gån
	ðou gåst	ji gåt	ðou gåst	ji gåt
	hi, si, hit gåt	si, Si gån	hi, si, hit gå	si, Si gån
preterite	ik ging	wi gingen	ik ginge	wi gingen
	ðou gingst	ji gingt	ðou gingest	ji ginget
	hi, si, hit ging	si, Si gingen	hi, si, hit ginge	si, Si gingen
imperative	gå	gåt (ji)

doon
infinitive		doon
present participle		dooend/doond
past participle		gedoon
auxiliary		haven
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik doo	wi doon	ik doo	wi doon
	ðou dost	ji dot	ðou dost	ji dot
	hi, si, hit dot	si, Si doon	hi, si, hit doo	si, Si doon
preterite	ik deed	wi deeden	ik deede	wi deeden
	ðou deedst	ji deedet	ðou deedest	ji deedet
	hi, si, hit deed	si, Si deeden	hi, si, hit deede	si, Si deeden
imperative	doo	doot (ji)

beun
infinitive		beun
present participle		wesend
past participle		gewesen or wesen
auxiliary		wesen
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik biem	wi beun	ik bij	wi bijn
	ðou biest	ji beut	ðou bijst	ji bijt
	hi, si, hit biet	si, Si beun	hi, si, hit bij	si, Si bijn
preterite	ik was	wi weren	ik wære	wi wæren
	ðou wast	ji wert	ðou wærest	ji wæret
	hi, si, hit was	si, Si weren	hi, si, hit wære	si, Si wæren
imperative

stån
infinitive		stån
present participle		ståend/stånd
past participle		gestån
auxiliary		wesen
	indicative		subjunctive
present	ik stå	wi stån	ik stå	wi stån
	ðou ståst	ji ståt	ðou ståst	ji ståt
	hi, si, hit ståt	si, Si stån	hi, si, hit stå	si, Si stån
preterite	ik stood	wi stooden	ik støde	wi støden
	ðou stoodst	ji stoodet	ðou stødest	ji stødet
	hi, si, hit stood	si, Si stooden	hi, si, hit støde	si, Si støden
imperative	stå	ståt (ji)

Adjectives

Attribute adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, case and definiteness. While this formulation suggests that adjectives work as in Proto-Germanic, the older inflection system has been heavily eroded by the reduction of unstress vowels, and many of these distinctions are vestigial. Predicative adjectives are on the other hand invariable. The inflection marks of the adjectives are given by the following table. Strong declension correspond to indefinite nouns, while weak declension correspond to definite nouns.

Adjective inflection
number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		hi is groot	si is groot	hit is groot	si sind groot
strong declension	common	groot	groote	groot	groote
	genitive	grootes	grooter	grootes	grooter
weak declension	common	groote	groote	groote	grooten
	genitive	grooten	grooten	grooten	grooten

Pronouns

The following table lists the Shoundavish personal pronouns.

Pronoun inflection
number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
1st person	nominative	ik			wi
	accusative	mig			uns
	genitive	mijn			unser
	dative	mir			uns
2nd person	nominative	ðou			ji
	accusative	ðig			jyw
	genitive	ðijn			jer
	dative	ðir			jyw
3rd person	nominative	hi	si	hit	si
	accusative	hin	hee	hit	hir
	genitive	his	her	his	her
	dative	him	her	him	him
reflexive	nominative
	accusative	sig
	genitive	sijn
	dative	sir

Vocabulary

Comparison with other Germanic languages

As a West Germanic language with slight North Germanic influences, Shoundavish shares numerous cognates with the other Germanic laguages. The following table compares cognates in several different Germanic languages and Shoundavish. In some cases, the meanings may not be identical in each language.

Vocabulary comparison
Shoundavish	English	West Frisian	Dutch	Low German	German	Icelandic	Norwegian (Nynorsk)	Swedish	Danish	Reconstructed Proto-Germanic
appel	apple	apel	appel	Appel	Apfel	epli	eple	äpple	æble	*ap(u)laz
kunnen	can	kinne	kunnen	känen	können	kunna	kunne, kunna	kunna	kunne	*kunnanan
doghter	daughter	dochter	dochter	Dochter	Tochter	dóttir	dotter	dotter	datter	*đuχtēr
dood	dead	dea	dood	dod	tot	dauður	daud	död	død	*đauđaz
deup	deep	djip	diep	deip	tief	djúpur	djup	djup	dyb	*đeupaz
ðat	that	dat	dat	dat	das	það	det	det	det	*þat
erþe	earth	ierde	aarde	Ird	Erde	jörð	jord	jord	jord	*erþō
ej	egg	aei, aai	ei	Ei	Ei	egg	egg	ägg	æg	*ajjaz
fisk	fish	fisk	vis	Fisch	Fisch	fiskur	fisk	fisk	fisk	*fiskaz
gån	go	gean	gaan	gahn	gehen	ganga	gå	gå(nga)	gå (gange)	*ȝanȝanan
good	good	goed	goed	gaud	gut	góð(ur)	god	god	god	*ȝōđaz
høren	hear	hearre	horen	hüren	hören	heyra	høyra, høyre	höra	høre	*χauzjanan, *χausjanan
eik	I	ik	ik	ick	ich	ég	eg	jag	jeg	*eka
liven	live	libje	leven	lewen	leben	lifa	leva	leva	leve	*liƀēnan
naght	night	nacht	nacht	Nacht	Nacht	nótt	natt	natt	nat	*naχtz
een	one	ien	één	ein, en	eins	einn	ein	en	en	*ainaz
rygg	ridge	rêch	rug	Rügg(en)	Rücken	hryggur	rygg	rygg	ryg	*χruȝjaz
sitten	sit	sitte	zitten	sitten	sitzen	sitja	sitja, sitta	sitta	sidde	*setjanan
søken	seek	sykje	zoeken	säuken	suchen	sækja	søkja	söka	søge	*sōkjanan
tryw	true	trou	trouw	tru	treu	tryggur	trygg	trygg	tryg	*trewwaz
twee	two	twa	twee	twei	zwei, zwo	tveir, tvær, tvö	to	två, tu	to	*twō(u)
þank	thank (noun)	tank	dank	Dank	Dank	þökk	takk	tack	tak	*þankaz
uns	us	ús	ons	uns	uns	oss	oss	oss	os	*uns-
weg	way	wei	weg	Weg	Weg	vegur	veg	väg	vej	weȝaz
hwijt white	wyt	wit	witt	weiß	hvítur	kvit	vit	hvid	*χwītaz
word	word	wurd	woord	Wurd	Wort	orð	ord	ord	ord	*wurđan
jår	year	jier	jaar	Johr	Jahr	ár	år	år	år	*jēran

Loanwords

Unlike most other Germanic languages, Shoundavish deliberately avoids Latin and Greek loanwords, and relies mostly on Germanic roots to create new vocabulary. Consequently, most Shoundavish words are of Germanic origin, either inherited directly from Proto-West Germanic or borrowed from North Germanic languages (most often Old Norse and Early Modern Danish). The following table lists examples of Latin or Greek loanwords in English and German, which are translated using Germanic roots in Shoundavish.

English	German	Shoundavish	Etymology
biology	Biologie	lijfkunde	lijf life + kunde knowledge
electricity	Elektrizität	rafmaght	raf amber + maght power
subjunctive	subjunktiv	anføgend	anføgen to append, join
study	studieren	frøden	PGm *frōdijaną

The non-Germanic loanwords present in Shoundavish can be divided in two main categories :

● Loanwords dating back from the Proto-Germanic era and attested in most other Germanic languages, e. g., mylle (mill, from Latin molīnum), buter (butter, from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron)), ijren (iron, from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom).

● Loanwords created specially for Shoundavish and fitted to Shoundavish phonology, e. g., kroktel (crocodile, from Latin crocodilus), faver (paper, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros)), wijr (virus, from Latin vīrus).

The phonological fitting process depends on the era when the word was borrowed. Consequently, for words borrowed during the Pre-Germanic times, Grimm's law applies, as can be seen on faver. For later loanwords, only unstressed vowel reduction and some further shifts are applied to yield natural-sounding Shoundavish words, as in kroktel and wijr. More information about Shoundavish vocabulary can be found on the Contionary website .

Sample text

The following text is a translation of Grimms' tale The Fox and the Geese.

Ðe foks kamm eens up eene weeðe, hwar eene herde skøner fetter gænse satt, ðan laghte hi and sagde "ik komme als geroopen, ji sittet winig bij elkanðeren, so kann ik eene after ðe anðere freten." Ðe gænse kakelden af skrekk, sprangen up, fengen an te jåmeren and klæglijk um here lijve te bidden. Meden ðe foks wolde over neets høren and sagde "ðar is nee genåðe, ji mootet sterven."

Endlijk took eene sijn gante mood and sagde "skullen wi armen gænse unser junge friske lijf ðan ðough laten, so skenk uns eene eenigste gunst and orloof uns nogh een gebed, ðarmid sterven wi neet in synde : ðarafter willen wi uns in eene reewe stellen, ðarmid kant ðou eewe ðe fettste outsøken."

"Ja," sagde ðe foks "ðet is fornømstig, and is een froom wynsk: bedet, ik will so lange wachten." So feng ðe erste een reght lang gebed an, jet eewe "gak! gak!" and als si ðough neet uphålden wolde, wachtete ðe tweede neet, til ðet kerd an her kamm, sunderen feng ook an "gak! gak!" Ðe þridde and fierþe folgden hir, and sån kakelden si alle tegader.

And hwann si mid ðet gebed over sind, skall ðet mærken wijder ortåld beun, si beden jeðough gantertijd nogh eewe forþ.

English translation :

The fox once came to a meadow in which was a flock of fine fat geese, on which he smiled and said, "I come in the nick of time, you are sitting together quite beautifully, so that I can eat you up one after the other." The geese cackled with terror, sprang up, and began to wail and beg piteously for their lives. But the fox would listen to nothing, and said, "There is no mercy to be had! You must die." At length one of them took heart and said, "If we poor geese are to yield up our vigorous young lives, show us the only possible favour and allow us one more prayer, that we may not die in our sins, and then we will place ourselves in a row, so that you can always pick yourself out the fattest." - "Yes," said the fox, "that is reasonable, and a pious request. Pray away, I will wait till you are done." Then the first began a good long prayer, for ever saying, "Ga! Ga!" and as she would make no end, the second did not wait until her turn came, but began also, "Ga! Ga!" The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were all cackling together.

When they have done praying, the story shall be continued further, but at present they are still praying without stopping."